A Lot To Process
by DeliriousMess
Summary: So it's the Fuu/Ferio shipping week in the Magic Knight Rayearth fandom, so how could I resist? The theme today is "Difference" but I put more of a "Culture Shock" twist to it. Fuu and Ferio go to a Children's Museum, and Ferio struggles with the idea of sharks.


Fuu had thought that it'd be a good way for Ferio to be introduced to some of the things about Earth that could be a little bit difficult to understand. Besides, she hadn't been to the Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Hall since she herself was a child; it'd be nice to see what new exhibits they had to offer. She'd tried her best, however, to explain to him that this was something that families did with their children to teach them more about science and art and the like, and to warn him about the sheer number of people that were likely to be there, that it would be noisy, and that if he ever felt like he didn't want to be there anymore to tell her and to not feel badly about it; they could always go back another day.

To his credit, Ferio had just laughed and made a joke about how if he was able to survive the train from Tokyo Tower to her house, then he could probably handle a children's museum. But Fuu could tell, just like always, that he was a bit more nervous about the experience than he let on.

On the train, he'd been more determined to hold onto her hand through the ride and Fuu had given it a few reassuring squeezes, reminding him gently that if it got to be too much, they could always leave. He just smiled again, shifting slightly to try to make more room for someone else, while getting closer to her to try to calm himself down.

When they got there, he refused to let her hand go, standing and looking around as if he was expecting someone or something to attack them. Once they had crossed into one of the exhibits, he seemed to relax a bit, reading about some of the concepts that various exhibits were demonstrating, and smiling at some of the kids who stared at him, or more specifically, at his hair.

Soon enough, Ferio was enjoying himself as he and other kids played in a hands-on water pool, experimenting with currents.

This had to be cut short, however, because Ferio was starting to enter his "show off" persona, which meant it was only a matter of time before he was juggling with some of the planks used to direct the water, or teaching the children how to throw their voices to cause all sorts of problems at home. She pulled him away from the water, resulting in some shouts of protests from the children, though he waved them off, grinning broadly.

"Here _I_ thought I'd bring you here so you could learn a little more about Earth, and here _you_ are, about to teach little children how to throw their voices." She commented, leading him into an open area between exhibits.

He grinned at her, "I'm learning plenty."

"Uh-huh," she rolled her eyes, before giggling and grabbing his arm, "C'mon, we should get going."

"Going where?" he asked, letting himself be led by Fuu.

She grinned at him, "There's a movie on sharks playing on the third floor, I think you'll like it."

"What's a shark?" He asked as they stepped into the elevator. Fuu had told him about movies and television, even watching a few shows the night before and explaining things about them, but he hadn't yet heard of 'sharks.'

She explained, as simply as she could, that a shark was a large predatory fish that lived in the oceans of Earth.

He gave her a confused look, "Well, that sounds boring. What's the point of making a movie about those?"

"You'll see," she smiled back, squeezing his hand.

As they stepped off the elevator, Ferio noticed a sign for the movie they were going to walk into asked Fuu about one of the words he saw that he didn't understand.

"What's an 'im-ax'?"

She smiled at him, "I-Max. It's means that the screen is going to be very big, and it's going to see like some of the things in the movie are coming towards us. Again, if it gets to be too much, just let me know and we can leave."

He scoffed at her, "I'm sure I've fought things that are scarier than watching a movie on sharks."

She smiled at him as they took their seats; Fuu subtly directing them to the back row and close to the door, just in case Ferio's bark is worse than his bite.

When the movie started, Ferio pressed himself back into his seat, whispering, "Whoa."

Fuu smiled at him, squeezing his fingers. Ferio was quiet the rest of the movie, mouth still hanging open. When the movie was over, she carefully pulled his arm so that he could stand up. He kept his gaze on the screen, even as they left the theater.

"You alright?" She asked as they entered a common area.

"So…so you all just…just _live_ with things like sharks?" Ferio stammered, his confusion etched into his face.

"Well, yes." Fuu said, pausing and waiting for him to continue.

"And they just…they just live outside of your influence?" He asked.

"Well not exactly, I mean the movie showed that humans are really impacting their environ—,"

"No," he interrupted, "I mean, I got that, I just meant that…they're not like some of the animals in Cephiro, or I guess monsters. They don't exist just because people are afraid."

"No." She replied.

He let out a strained chuckle, "That's, uh…that's a lot to process."

Ferio stood there, lost in his thoughts. She reached for his hand and squeezed it, "Hey."

He looked at her. He tried to smile at her but she saw through it, "You wanna go back to my house?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Okay." She said, pulling his hand. He followed her, a bit in a daze.

As they left the building, Fuu spotted an ice cream shop that looked surprisingly vacant. She pulled him with her, "C'mon, I think you deserve something sweet after all that."

He opened his mouth to quip back, only to be cut off by Fuu saying, "And if you say 'You're the only sweet thing I need' or anything like that, I _will_ leave you to figure out how to get back on your own."

He grinned at her but held back, instead opting to kiss her cheek, "Thank you."

"Thank me after you get your ice cream, Prince." She giggled.


End file.
